After the all-too-close assassination attempt on Donald Trump at a July 13 campaign rally in Pennsylvania, many Americans have been deeply troubled to learn of the appalling security failures of the Secret Service. Many thought that after our country went through the gut-wrenching assassinations of Presidents Lincoln and JFK Jr. and the deadly shooting of then-candidate RFK Jr.—and the attempt on Ronald Reagan—the Secret Service had been forged into one of the more elite forces in the world, prepared for any eventuality and sharply in tune with the conditions on the ground.
Then we learned that a 20-year-old psycho was able to roam around the Butler rally ground at will, fly a drone, and then sit on a rooftop with a rifle and a scope a mere 400 feet from the former president and fire off eight rounds, injuring Trump’s ear and missing his head by a millimeter while killing 50-year-old former firefighter Corey Comperatore and wounding two others.
The illusion of excellence was shattered, and the answers forthcoming from the Service—when they’re willing to give them—have not been reassuring. Now there’s been a second attempt on Trump’s life, this time in Florida, and you can forgive Governor Ron DeSantis for not sitting back and waiting to see what the feds have to say.
He wants his own answers:
The State of Florida will be conducting its own investigation regarding the attempted assassination at Trump International Golf Club.
The people deserve the truth about the would be assassin and how he was able to get within 500 yards of the former president and current GOP…
— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) September 16, 2024
The State of Florida will be conducting its own investigation regarding the attempted assassination at Trump International Golf Club.
The people deserve the truth about the would-be assassin and how he was able to get within 500 yards of the former president and current GOP nominee.
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I’ll tell you what, I’m no conspiracy theorist, and I won’t throw out any wild scenarios as to what’s been going on here—but I will say this: I would put much more trust in a report produced by Ron DeSantis and his people than any I would any coming out of the Biden-Harris administration. They have shown little interest in investigating what happened at the Pennsylvania rally shooting, and the Secret Service has been cagey and withholding. I would expect that pattern to continue now that there’s been a second try.
Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN), a member of the bipartisan congressional task force investigating the first attempted assassination, can’t believe what we’ve just witnessed—again:
“The problem is you’ve got a Secret Service, at least in my opinion, and in the public’s eye, that is compromised and that it lacks in leadership. And you’ve got great agents on the ground, obviously, one who took that shot. But why in the world would anybody be anywhere near the perimeter of this? This line of sight that we talk about is just beyond me. So we’ve got to get some answers. I don’t think we’re going to get them during this administration, but hopefully, under the Trump administration, we’ll clean this rat’s nest out,” Burchett said.
He added, “There is no way in hell that somebody should have been that close to President Trump with an AK Steel or AK-47 or whatever it was with a scope.”
Burchett has much more to say, and it’s worth a watch. Whether you agree with all his points or not, it’s hard to argue with his conclusion: “The American people are right to question this.”
Watch: